The electronics in fluorescent bulbs and light emitting diodes (LED), rather than ultraviolet radiation, cause increased malignant melanoma incidence in indoor office workers and tanning bed users.

The epidemiology of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) has a number of facets that do not fit with sunlight and ultraviolet light as the primary etiologic agents. Indoor workers have higher incidence and mortality rates of CMM than outdoor workers; CMM occurs in body locations never exposed to sunlight; CMM incidence is increasing in spite of use of UV blocking agents and small changes in solar radiation. Installation of two new fluorescent lights in the milking parlor holding area of a Minnesota dairy farm in 2015 caused an immediate drop in milk production. This lead to measurement of body amperage in humans exposed to modern non-incandescent lighting. People exposed to old and new fluorescent lights, light emitting diodes (LED) and compact fluorescent lights (CFL) had body amperage levels above those considered carcinogenic. We hypothesize that modern electric lighting is a significant health hazard, a carcinogen, and is causing increasing CMM incidence in indoor office workers and tanning bed users. These lights generate dirty electricity (high frequency voltage transients), radio frequency (RF) radiation, and increase body amperage, all of which have been shown to be carcinogenic. This could explain the failure of ultraviolet blockers to stem the malignant melanoma pandemic. Tanning beds and non-incandescent lighting could be made safe by incorporating a grounded Faraday cage which allows passage of ultraviolet and visible light frequencies and blocks other frequencies. Modern electric lighting should be fabricated to be electrically clean.

Tumor-specific frequencies and ocular melanoma.

Specific kilohertz frequencies in the environment from variable frequency drives on electric motors at a liquid natural gas compressor and storage station on a natural gas pipeline seem to be associated with the development of a very rare cancer, ocular melanoma, at a high school and in individuals living or working in a neighborhood near the plant. Primary neutral-to-earth oscilloscope voltage waveforms and spectra measured near the high school were nearly identical to the ground voltage 2.3 miles away at the gas pipeline. Peak frequencies of 7440 and 19,980 Hz were found at both places. The electric utility practice of using the earth as a conduit for return currents facilitated this exposure.

Hypothesis: the reversal of the relation between economic growth and health progress in Sweden in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries was caused by electrification.

The expected decline of health indicators with economic recessions and improvement with economic growth in the nineteenth century Sweden was reversed in the twentieth century, giving the counterintuitive pattern of higher mortality and lower life expectancy in economic expansions and improvement of these indices in recessions. The change or "tipping point" occurred at the end of the nineteenth century or early in the twentieth century when electrification was introduced into Sweden. All 5 of the reversals of annual industrial electric energy use in the US between 1912 and 1970 were accompanied by recessions with lowered GDP, increased unemployment, decreased mortality and increased life expectancy. The health indices were not related to residential electricity use. The mortality improvement between 1931 and 1932 by state in the US strongly favored urban areas over rural areas. Rural unemployment by state in 1930 was significantly positively correlated with residential electrification percentage by state in 1930. The health effects of economic change are mediated by electrical exposure.

Evidence that dirty electricity is causing the worldwide epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

The epidemics of obesity and diabetes most apparent in recent years had their origins with Thomas Edison's development of distributed electricity in New York City in 1882. His original direct current (DC) generators suffered serious commutator brush arcing which is a major source of high-frequency voltage transients (dirty electricity). From the onset of the electrical grid, electrified populations have been exposed to dirty electricity. Diesel generator sets are a major source of dirty electricity today and are used almost universally to electrify small islands and places unreachable by the conventional electric grid. This accounts for the fact that diabetes prevalence, fasting plasma glucose and obesity are highest on small islands and other places electrified by generator sets and lowest in places with low levels of electrification like sub-Saharan Africa and east and Southeast Asia.

Dirty electricity, chronic stress, neurotransmitters and disease.

Dirty electricity, also called electrical pollution, is high-frequency voltage transients riding along the 50 or 60 Hz electricity provided by the electric utilities. It is generated by arcing, by sparking and by any device that interrupts current flow, especially switching power supplies. It has been associated with cancer, diabetes and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in humans. Epidemiological evidence also links dirty electricity to most of the diseases of civilization including cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and suicide, beginning at the turn of the twentieth century. The dirty electricity level in a public library was reduced from over 10 000 Graham/Stetzer (G/S) units to below 50 G/S units by installing plug-in capacitive filters. Before cleanup, the urinary dopamine level of only one of seven volunteers was within normal levels, while four of seven phenylethylamine levels were normal. After an initial decline, over the next 18 weeks the dopamine levels gradually increased to an average of over 215 µg/g creatinine, which is well above 170 µg/g creatinine, the high normal level for the lab. Average phenylethylamine levels also rose gradually to slightly above 70 µg/g creatinine, the high normal level for the lab. Neurotransmitters may be biomarkers for dirty electricity and other electromagnetic field exposures. We believe that dirty electricity is a chronic stressor of electrified populations and is responsible for many of their disease patterns.

Historical evidence that electrification caused the 20th century epidemic of "diseases of civilization".

The slow spread of residential electrification in the US in the first half of the 20th century from urban to rural areas resulted by 1940 in two large populations; urban populations, with nearly complete electrification and rural populations exposed to varying levels of electrification depending on the progress of electrification in their state. It took until 1956 for US farms to reach urban and rural non-farm electrification levels. Both populations were covered by the US vital registration system. US vital statistics tabulations and census records for 1920-1960, and historical US vital statistics documents were examined. Residential electrification data was available in the US census of population for 1930, 1940 and 1950. Crude urban and rural death rates were calculated, and death rates by state were correlated with electrification rates by state for urban and rural areas for 1940 white resident deaths. Urban death rates were much higher than rural rates for cardiovascular diseases, malignant diseases, diabetes and suicide in 1940. Rural death rates were significantly correlated with level of residential electric service by state for most causes examined. I hypothesize that the 20th century epidemic of the so called diseases of civilization including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes and suicide was caused by electrification not by lifestyle. A large proportion of these diseases may therefore be preventable.

A new electromagnetic exposure metric: high frequency voltage transients associated with increased cancer incidence in teachers in a California school.

BACKGROUND: In 2003 the teachers at La Quinta, California middle school complained that they had more cancers than would be expected. A consultant for the school district denied that there was a problem. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the cancer incidence in the teachers, and its cause. METHOD: We conducted a retrospective study of cancer incidence in the teachers' cohort in relationship to the school's electrical environment. RESULTS: Sixteen school teachers in a cohort of 137 teachers hired in 1988 through 2005 were diagnosed with 18 cancers. The observed to expected (O/E) risk ratio for all cancers was 2.78 (P = 0.000098), while the O/E risk ratio for malignant melanoma was 9.8 (P = 0.0008). Thyroid cancer had a risk ratio of 13.3 (P = 0.0098), and uterine cancer had a risk ratio of 9.2 (P = 0.019). Sixty Hertz magnetic fields showed no association with cancer incidence. A new exposure metric, high frequency voltage transients, did show a positive correlation to cancer incidence. A cohort cancer incidence analysis of the teacher population showed a positive trend (P = 7.1 x 10(-10)) of increasing cancer risk with increasing cumulative exposure to high frequency voltage transients on the classroom's electrical wiring measured with a Graham/Stetzer (G/S) meter. The attributable risk of cancer associated with this exposure was 64%. A single year of employment at this school increased a teacher's cancer risk by 21%. CONCLUSION: The cancer incidence in the teachers at this school is unusually high and is strongly associated with high frequency voltage transients, which may be a universal carcinogen, similar to ionizing radiation.

Low proportion of male births and low birth weight of sons of flour mill worker fathers.

BACKGROUND: The Washington State Department of Health has collected and coded parental occupation information on birth certificates since 1980. We used these data to search for possible effects of parental occupational exposures on birth outcomes. METHODS: We tabulated sex ratio, birth weight, and proportions of multiple births, still births, and malformations by mothers' and fathers' occupations. RESULTS: There were 59 births (22 boys and 37 girls) where the father's occupation was specified as flour mill worker. The sex ratio of 0.373 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.261-0.500) was lower than the mean sex ratio of 0.512. The mean birth weight for flour mill workers' boy babies was 3,180 g (95% CI: 2,971-3,389), compared to an overall mean of 3,511 g for all boy babies. The mean birth weight of flour mill workers' girl babies was 3,602 (95% CI: 3,380-3,824), compared to an overall mean of 3,389 for all girl babies. CONCLUSION: The low prevalence of male infants born to fathers of flour mill workers in Washington State suggests that fumigants that they are exposed to are causing testicular dysfunction. The very low birth weight seen in the male infants of flour mill fathers is unprecedented and may be another genotoxic endpoint.

A computer system for coding occupation.

BACKGROUND: Occupation information is widely used in epidemiologic studies and is collected on most death certificates and many birth certificates in the United States. Coding the massive amount of occupation information collected has been a challenge. METHODS: A simple word-matching computer program to code occupation entries from vital records was developed. The accuracy of the program was evaluated by comparing its output to codes assigned by human coders. RESULTS: In routine use in the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), the computer system codes 96-97% of the occupation entries on birth and death records. It assigned the correct code on 89% (95% confidence interval (87%, 91%)) of the records it coded. CONCLUSIONS: The occupation-coding program is both efficient and accurate and can simplify the process of coding occupation entries from vital records. The system is adaptable and can be modified to use occupation classifications other than the one used by DOH.

A cluster of male breast cancer in office workers.

Three cases of male breast cancer were diagnosed among a small group of men who worked in a basement office of a multi-story office building. This office was adjacent to an electrical switchgear room which generated high magnetic fields in their work space. The risk of male breast cancer in this group was increased about 100-fold (observe three cases, expect 0.03 cases; P < 0.00001). Since 1991, 15 epidemiologic studies have associated male breast cancer with exposure to electromagnetic field.